Rethink UGC rules: JNU students to HRD minister

A group of Jawaharlal Nehru University students, who have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike for the past week, met Union Human Resource Development Minister (HRD) Prakash Javadekar to discuss their issues on Wednesday.

“We were assured by the minister that keeping in view students’ interests, the UGC notification that gives 100 percent weightage to viva in the entrance exam will not be implemented in JNU as of now,” said Saurabh Sharma of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)

“He (the minister) added that he  would personally look in the matter and make sure that there will be no discrimination against any students during the admission process,” Sharma added.

For some time now, students have been demanding the rollback of the UGC notification on May 5, 2016, which stated that the viva would be the sole basis for admission for MPhil/MSc and doctorate students. The measure, they believe, will lead to seat cuts and discrimination in the PhD and M.Phil admissions.

At present, entrance exam and viva marks are given weightage in a 70:30 ratio.